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The Security Council,
Recalling its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1265 (1999)
of 17 September 1999, 1296 (2000) of 19 April 2000 and 1314 (2000)
of 11 August 2000, as well as relevant statements of its President
and recalling also the statement of its President, to the press on the
occasion of the United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International
Peace of 8 March 2000 (SC/6816),
Recalling also the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action (A/52/231) as well as those contained in the outcome document
of the twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly
entitled "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for
the twenty-first century" (A/S-23/10/Rev.1), in particular those concerning
women and armed conflict,
Bearing in mind the purposes and principles of the Charter of the
United Nations and the primary responsibility of the Security Council under
the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security,
Expressing concern that civilians, particularly women and children,
account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed
conflict, including as refugees and internally displaced persons, and
increasingly are targeted by combatants and armed elements,
and recognizing the consequent impact this has on durable peace
and reconciliation,
Reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and resolution
of conflicts and in peace-building, and stressing the importance of their
equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance
and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role
in decision- making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution,
Reaffirming also the need to implement fully international humanitarian
and human rights law that protects the rights of women and girls during
and after conflicts, Emphasizing the need for all parties to ensure that mine
clearance and mine awareness programmes take into account the
special needs of women and girls, Recognizing the urgent need
to mainstream a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations,
and in this regard noting the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia
Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional
Peace Support Operations (S/2000/693),
Recognizing also the importance of the recommendation contained in
the statement of its President to the press of 8 March 2000 for
specialized training for all peacekeeping personnel on the protection,
special needs and human rights of women and children in conflict situations,
Recognizing that an understanding of the impact of armed conflict on
women and girls, effective institutional arrangements to guarantee their
protection and full participation in the peace process can
contribute to the maintenance and promotion of international peace
and security, Noting the need to consolidate data on the impact of armed
conflict on women and girls,
1. Urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women
at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international
institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution
of conflict;
2. Encourages the Secretary-General to implement his strategic plan
of action (A/49/587) calling for an increase in the participation of women
at decision-making levels in conflict resolution and peace processes;
3. Urges the Secretary-General to appoint more women as special
representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf,
and in this regard calls on Member States to provide candidates to the
Secretary-General, for inclusion in a regularly updated centralized roster;
4. Further urges the Secretary-General to seek to expand the role
and contribution of women in United Nations field-based operations, and
especially among military observers, civilian police, human rights
and humanitarian personnel;
5. Expresses its willingness to incorporate a gender perspective into
peacekeeping operations and urges the Secretary-General to ensure that,
where appropriate, field operations include a gender component;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to provide to Member States
training guidelines and materials on the protection, rights and the particular
needs of women, as well as on the importance of involving women in
all peacekeeping and peace-building measures, invites Member States
to incorporate these elements as well as HIV/AIDS awareness training
into their national training programmes for military and civilian
police personnel in preparation for deployment and further requests
the Secretary-General to ensure that civilian personnel of peacekeeping
operations receive similar training;
7. Urges Member States to increase their voluntary financial, technical
and logistical support for gender-sensitive training efforts, including
those undertaken by relevant funds and programmes, inter alia,
the United Nations Fund for Women and United Nations Children's Fund,
and by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other
relevant bodies;
8. Calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing
peace agreements, to adopt a gender perspective, including, inter alia:
(a) The special needs of women and girls during repatriation
and resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict
reconstruction; (b) Measures that support local women's peace initiatives
and indigenous processes for conflict resolution, and that involve
women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements;
(c) Measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights
of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution,
the electoral system, the police and the judiciary;
9. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect fully international
law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls as civilians
in particular the obligations applicable to them under the Geneva Conventions
of 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977, the Refugee
Convention of 1951 and the Protocol thereto of 1967, the Convention
Security Council - 5 - Press Release SC/6942 4213th Meeting (PM)
31 October 2000 on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women of 1979 and the Optional Protocol thereto of 1999 and the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and the two
Optional Protocols thereto of 25 May 2000, and to bear in mind the
relevant provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
10. Calls on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to
protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly
rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence
in situations of armed conflict;
11. Emphasizes the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunity
and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes including those relating to sexual violence
against women and girls, and in this regard, stresses the need to exclude
these crimes, where feasible from amnesty provisions;
12. Calls upon all parties to armed conflict to respect the civilian and
humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements, and to take
into account the particular needs of women and girls, including in their
design, and recalls its resolution 1208 (1998) of 19 November 1998;
13. Encourages all those involved in the planning for disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration to consider the different needs
of female and male ex-combatants and to take into account the needs
of their dependants;
14. Reaffirms its readiness, whenever measures are adopted under
Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations, to give consideration to
their potential impact on the civilian population, bearing in mind the
special needs of women and girls, in order to consider appropriate
humanitarian exemptions;
15. Expresses its willingness to ensure that Security Council missions
take into account gender considerations and the rights of women,
including through consultation with local and international women's groups;
16. Invites the Secretary-General to carry out a study on the impact of
armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace-building
and the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution,
and further invites him to submit a report to the Security Council on the
results of this study and to make this available to all Member States of
the United Nations;
17. Requests the Secretary-General, where appropriate, to include
in his reporting to the Security Council, progress on gender
mainstreaming throughout peacekeeping missions and all other
aspects relating to women and girls;
18. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter."
U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
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MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
25 November 2008
Across the world, in countries rich and poor, women are being beaten,
trafficked, raped and killed. These human rights violations do more
than harm individuals; they undermine the development, peace
and security of entire societies.
Women everywhere are at risk, but those living in societies
experiencing armed conflict face even graver danger. As conflicts
have become more complex, the pattern of sexual violence has evolved.
Women are no longer in jeopardy only during periods of actual fighting;
they are just as likely to be assaulted when there is calm, by armies, militias,
rebels, criminal gangs or even police.
We do not know the true number of victims, but we do know that there
are far more crimes than ever get reported, and far fewer lead to arrests.
In too many places, rape still carries a stigma that forces women to
avoid the courts that should exist to protect them. In some countries,
victims are brutalized twice: first during the crime itself, and then by the
justice system, where they may face trumped-up charges of “adultery”
and the possibility of subsequent punishment.
Even when perpetrators are identified, they often go unpunished,
especially if they are working in the police or military. At times, these
crimes are particularly shocking. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s
troubled North Kivu province, where some 350 rape cases are reported every
month, victims are also sometimes subjected to genital mutilation.
Even more disturbing is the age of many victims. In certain violent areas
of Haiti, fifty per cent of the young women have been raped or sexually
assaulted. Of the handful of courageous victims who do seek justice,
one in three is under thirteen. During one particularly violent month earlier
this year in Liberia, the majority of reported rapes were committed against
girls under the age of twelve, some of whom were not even five years old.
These examples come from countries where the United Nations has a
peacekeeping presence. Thanks to the Security Council’s groundbreaking
resolution 1820, adopted in June, the use of sexual violence as a tactic of
warfare is now recognized as a matter of international peace and security.
According to the resolution, peacekeeping missions, in particular those with
mandates to protect civilians, must now include the protection of women
and children from all forms of violence in their reporting on conflict
situations. Resolution 1820 also requested stronger efforts to implement
the vital zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation by UN personnel,
and urged troop and police contributing countries to ensure full
accountability in cases of misconduct.
The adoption of resolution 1820 is part of a growing global trend to
address this scourge. This past February’s Vienna Forum to Fight Human
Trafficking, and the continued leadership of the General Assembly, are
additional signs of international momentum.
At the national level, more and more countries are meeting their
obligations to protect women through comprehensive legislation,
better services for victims, stronger partnerships and increased efforts
to engage men and boys in addressing the problem.
This progress is welcome, but there are still gaps. We need to do
more to enforce laws and counter impunity. We need to combat
attitudes and behaviour that condone, tolerate, excuse or ignore violence
committed against women. And we need to increase funding for services
for victims and survivors.
I am determined to strengthen these efforts, including through my global
campaign “UNiTE to end violence against women”, which aims to raise
public awareness, increase political will and resources and create a
supportive environment to make good on existing policy commitments.
All of us – men and women, soldiers and peacekeepers, citizens and
leaders – have a responsibility to help end violence against women.
States must honour their commitments to prevent violence,
bring perpetrators to justice and provide redress to victims.
And each of us must speak out in our families, workplaces and
communities, so that acts of violence against women cease.
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"Ambassador for Peace Int." 
